Holly Holm: Dad Says Ronda’s Reaction At Weigh-In Was Because She Was ‘Scared To Death’

Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey have both been all over the headlines in recent weeks after Holm defeated the former UFC champ in a stunning match in Australia. Now, Holm’s father is speaking up about how it all went down — and why Rousey reacted the way she did in the ring.

Although the fight had been built up for fans — as all fights are — there wasn’t any real animosity to be found between the athletes prior to the match. But at the weigh-in, there was a scuffle between the women that left Holm pushing Rousey away with a hand to the face, and Ronda later took to social media to express her anger.

“Fake a** cheap shotting fake respect fake humility b***h – ‘preacher’s daughter’ my a**,” Rousey posted on Twitter.

That anger is likely what led to Ronda’s unusually wild fighting style during the match, some say, and the New York Times wrote that Rousey let her feelings get in the way to the point that she even refused to touch gloves with Holm before the fight.

“She came off as a bad sportswoman, insulting and refusing to touch gloves with the even tempered and good natured Holm and then fought a wild, dangerous fight that didn’t show sufficient respect for her opponent’s ability.”

Her reaction to Holm, Holm’s father Roger says, was born out of fear.

“That was Ronda scared to death. She knew something like this was down the pipe. Ronda was trying to get her confidence back. Holly exposed Ronda, just in the realness of a fighter. And I think that that was tip, like – Holly started winning fans over here just because they know she’s just a down, good to earth person. And maybe that was Ronda’s way of trying to paint Holly in a light that gave her confidence, but it didn’t work,” Roger Holm said.

The fight shocked just about everyone, as Rousey has had such a swift and — until that night — perfect career that UFC President Dana White said earlier this year he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with her once she had gone up against all the other women in the organization, outside of pitting her against a man. Holm, while maintaining a boxing and MMA career herself, had still not shown fans she had what it takes to beat Rousey until they faced off.

“Holm fought perfectly. She circled away from Rousey’s bull rushes expertly and repeatedly countered while doing so, which frustrated Rousey and caused her to fade quickly. Even when Rousey did slow down, Holm remained composed and picked her opportunities,” wrote Andrew Richardson for SB Nation.

Ronda has kept relatively quiet since the fight, only appearing once on social media to let fans know she was okay immediately after news spread that she’d been knocked out during the match. She did show up in a photo with her family over the Thanksgiving holiday, but Rousey had said before the fight even went down that she was planning on taking some time off afterward.

As for Holly Holm, she told TMZ recently that she feels bad that Rousey — who had been untouchable and beloved for the whole of her career — suddenly had to deal with criticism and the inevitable jokes online after the match.

“I think people can be pretty brutal, and when you’re in the spot she’s in, there are people that are just going to jump ship and I don’t ever wish for that. I have a lot of respect for her,” Holly Holm said.

[Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images]